Hurricane Irma- Now a tropical depression

[wonder whisper]

First construction crane collapse in Miami:

Three construction cranes have now fallen due to Irma. Two in Miami and one in Ft. Lauderdale.

 

[wonder whisper]

Reports are saying parts of I-4 are flooded.

 

[BrinkofSunshine]

Ouch - hope your power stays on. And good luck trying to get any sleep tonight with those winds howling!

Thank you! I don't expect to sleep much tonight- the path shifted east and we're now going to be closer to the eyewall than previously expected. The major wind gusts have been coming in bands. Quite a night!

 

[Bianca and Bernard]

Power is flickering here. Still have power at my house for now.
Steady rain. Gusts of wind, aboit 30mph.

News is saying 80mph gusts at 5am.

Sprung a leak in my garage roof, right over my washer. /sigh. Can't do anything except toss a tarp over the washer and throw some buckets on that.

Flooding in downtown Jax, St Augustine has some as well.
Possible tornado in St Johns cty.

 

[Miumiu4me]

I still have power in Orlando, but I'm one of the few. I'm listening to something pop off my house at the moment.

 

[wonder whisper]

I still have power in Orlando, but I'm one of the few. I'm listening to something pop off my house at the moment.

And just to show the misery the storm is bringing is more than just wind and rain, news reports of looting are coming out:

• SWAT officers in Orlando detained one suspect after a standoff which began looters broke into Academy Sports trying to steal guns

• Two groups of looters were caught on camera Sunday ransacking two separate sporting goods stores in South Florida

• At least eight people were filmed by an ABC crew breaking into Simon's Sportswear in Fort Lauderdale, Florida

• In midtown Miami, a local reporter watched as at least a dozen looters undertook what appeared to be a well-coordinated theft of a sporting goods shop

• A Broward County sheriff's deputy shot a teenager and arrested another after they allegedly broke in to a home in the affluent suburb of Weston

• Fort Lauderdale police announced the arrest of two 28-year-old men who are alleged to have broken into six homes late Saturday night

• A utility company near Orlando is reporting that residents are complaining of looters posing as utility workers who rob homeowners at gunpoint

 

[elphaba91]

My sister is in Orlando in Disney housing and they still have power, although it's been flickering and apparently some apartments are out so it's only a matter of time. They had a leak spring up at the top of their window a couple of hours ago so have fixed a towel over it with some duct tape (my mum is patting herself on the back for packing it for my sister!) and it seems to be holding okay. My sister is actually severely to profoundly deaf so she could theoretically take her hearing aids out and probably sleep through the whole thing, but I don't think she wants to do that in case of an emergency situation. It sounds like it's getting pretty scary for them; one of the requirements of their Visas is that they have to have a 'cultural experience' each month and I think this certainly counts!

 

[wonder whisper]

Thank you! I don't expect to sleep much tonight- the path shifted east and we're now going to be closer to the eyewall than previously expected. The major wind gusts have been coming in bands. Quite a night!

Yes, the eye did move east and you unfortunately now get to be treated to Cat 2 level winds. As you probably already know, the forecasters say they will be at their worst around 2AM. Eye as of this posting is south of Orlando.

Also, in other another DIS thread someone posted the first image of damage at WDW I've seen (a large mature tree tree next to buildings at the Poly which was completely uprooted and is presently lying on its side).

 

[JaxDad]

I lost power sometime between 1-2 AM and hoping I don't have to go 3 days like last year. I want to crank my generator to save my cold food, but there are still some strong gusts.

It's still pretty dark, but I can see I have at least one big tree down. It was right next to house, and it blew down the opposite direction! I'll take that bit of great news to balance the rest!

 

[elphaba91]

Just got the notification on my app that she is now a Tropical Storm!

My sister's apartment didn't lose power at all and aparently they can't see any damage outside their window, so hopefully all is good. Their living room window did leak a bit so they will have to get maintenance in to fix that up. Hopefully they will all be back at work tomorrow making magic happen!

 

[nd5056]

While Irma has caused a significant damage, I must say I’m a bit relieved since it could have been much worse. I guess I was afraid that Irma could’ve gone more West and regain its original strength. Still, the wide spread flooding is the biggest worry right now.
Stay safe.

 

[Bianca and Bernard]

We made it!!

Lost a window screen and the screen door off the back porch. And a leak in the garage over the washer. Some tree limbs down and lots of leaves.

But no one hurt and no major damage.
I never want to do this again.

 

[BrinkofSunshine]

Feeling very fortunate here in Orlando. Last night was pretty terrifying; we were very lucky to have never lost power (though we did lose A/C).

I hunkered down with family; we have trees and debris (roof shingles and branches mostly) around but everything seems fine. I'm worried about my own home but I can't go check on it until curfew lifts. I'm also just anxious to see what this thing did to my city

 

[missnic]

I'm feeling extremely lucky here in Jax. It was a rough night, but we had power until 6:00 this morning, and DirecTV until at least 3:00. No damage at all, no flooding in my neighborhood, and our power was back on by 1:00 this afternoon. Other parts of the city are another story - there are city blocks flooded downtown, entire homes just toppled into the ocean.. We could have received so much worse though.

 

[Skippy918]

A tree fell on my cousin's garage and took out their water line. The rest of their house is fine. I am guessing they will be staying somewhere else until their house gets fixed or they get water.

 

[Piglet4Ever]

We live on the east coast of Florida by the cocoa beach area. We spent the week getting the house ready, and bugged out to my brothers house in Tampa on Friday, saw the forecasted path on Sat bringing the storm over Tampa so we all came back to my house. Then Irma decided to change her mind again, but it was too late to leave again so we rode it out. We lost power for about 5-6 hours and are under a boil water advisory for now, but other than that neither me or my brother had any damage to our houses so we are so very grateful.

 

[indimom]

My sis in the Destin area is fine. No issues at all.
My cousin from Miami weathered the storm in Tampa with only power outage to deal with. They made it home to Miami early this morning. The house was intact, but lots of property damage, and no power of course. I was a little worried about them traveling back so soon after the storm, but they are well. And if I know them, they will be hard at it as soon as the sun rises.

 

[Miumiu4me]

And just to show the misery the storm is bringing is more than just wind and rain, news reports of looting are coming out:

• SWAT officers in Orlando detained one suspect after a standoff which began looters broke into Academy Sports trying to steal guns

• Two groups of looters were caught on camera Sunday ransacking two separate sporting goods stores in South Florida

• At least eight people were filmed by an ABC crew breaking into Simon's Sportswear in Fort Lauderdale, Florida

• In midtown Miami, a local reporter watched as at least a dozen looters undertook what appeared to be a well-coordinated theft of a sporting goods shop

• A Broward County sheriff's deputy shot a teenager and arrested another after they allegedly broke in to a home in the affluent suburb of Weston

• Fort Lauderdale police announced the arrest of two 28-year-

A few of my neighbors were burglarized during the storm (another neighbor saw the incident). Blargh.

 

[IceSkatingPrincess]

I live in a small town in coastal Southeast GA right on the FL border, and so many people have major, major damage. A ferry boat even broke free from the dock and came up onto the grass - throwing life jackets and debris everywhere. People have lost everything. Some had to abandon their homes on makeshift air mattress rafts and in kayaks. They are warning us about poison snakes in the floodwaters.

I evacuated and am incredibly lucky and blessed to just have what appears so far from exterior pictures to be minor damage, but don't forget about the little towns who don't get much, if any, news coverage. Restoration is going to take ages, and people won't stop flushing their toilets so raw sewage is backing up into people's homes

 

[Bianca and Bernard]

I'm feeling extremely lucky here in Jax. It was a rough night, but we had power until 6:00 this morning, and DirecTV until at least 3:00. No damage at all, no flooding in my neighborhood, and our power was back on by 1:00 this afternoon. Other parts of the city are another story - there are city blocks flooded downtown, entire homes just toppled into the ocean.. We could have received so much worse though.

Power just came back on here, in Fleming Island/Middleburg/OP.